This year’s Dusty Film Festival and Awards culminated on Monday, May 9, when the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department recognized the top work by senior students. The awards ceremony, emceed by faculty member Gene Stavis, took place in front of a packed house at the Loews Kips Bay movie theater, where students received prizes in nine categories.

The top prize – Outstanding Achievement in Film – went to Gregory Parker for last, his short film about a young man’s transition from adolescence to adulthood. Film star Ellen Burstyn presented Parker with his award, and she also gave out the festival’s Human Spirit Award, which went to Ulrike Gruber for Euratsfeld (Your Field). Animator, SVA alum and past Dusty winner Jeff Nodleman (BFA 1995 Film, Video and Animation) of Noodlesoup Productions, Inc., presented the Outstanding Achievement in Animation awards, which went to Jeff Mednikow, for Pizzacato, and Nelson Diaz,
for Coqui (tie, traditional animation); Hyung Kee Lee, for Good Job, and David Popolow, for The Carny (tie, stop-motion animation).